Camping Trip
by Free.Spirit140
Summary: Buster thinks that camping trips are always fun, the adventure, getting back to nature and in touch with their roots, so whilst the theatre is being rebuilt, what better way for the cast to bond? But spending so much time together when you barely know each other isn't always easy. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Hiya, I have had this idea swirling around in my head since I saw the film last Friday so now I'm actually getting it down on paper. I hope you enjoy!

(I own nothing)

* * *

Buster sighed, turning restlessly in the make-shift bed that Eddie had set up on the floor of the pool house for him whilst the theatre was rebuilt. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, he had slept in his desk draw before now after all, it was more along the lines of him finding it hard to… not concentrate. His mind was whizzing with new ideas for shows and concerts that could highlight his new cast. Ash, with her loud and strong music, Rosita and Gunter with their… flamboyant dancing and voices, Mike with his mature and experienced vocals, Meena and her powerful voice, and Johnny with his natural-born talent. They were such a miss-matched group that whenever Buster thought of an idea he had to quickly dismiss it due to it not fitting with one of the cast members. He felt a personal connection with each of them and he really didn't like the idea of leaving any of them out, not to mention how popular they all were now. Most, if not all, of the city had heard of them and thanks to the internet there were thousands of people outside of the city that had heard of them too, and the majority of the comments were all positive and begging for more music from each of them. For now, with no theatre, there wasn't really much any of them could do in that department. They were popular, sure, but if they wanted to make it on their own, outside of the theatre, they needed more experience and they needed to _really_ get their names out there, then they might stand a chance of being scouted by big record labels and shows. Whilst Buster secretly wished that that day would never come, he knew it would and eventually his cast would slowly fall apart as they were individually picked off by talent scouts, preforming arts schools, and agents. After all, that eventually happens to every amateur performer group like theirs. But part of him still secretly wished that it didn't happen to theirs. He finally found his star cast and he didn't want it taken away from him.

He sighed, pulling the pillow over his head and using it to cover his ears in an attempt to drown out his own thoughts. He needed to sleep, that's all that mattered right now. He was just dozing off when Eddie's phone buzzed somewhere on his right. Then again. And again. And then three more times. Buster growled, lifting a corner of the pillow to check to see if his friend had woken up. He hadn't. Eddie was out cold on the sofa he called a bed, one leg and an arm hanging over the edge. The phone was right below his arm, looking as if it had been dropped so it probably had been. He reached over and grabbed the phone, deciding that privacy could go to hell if it was going to keep him awake all night. He tried not to read the message previews as he pressed and held the power button on the phone, but one caught his eye.

 _New camping equipment in stock now at…_

Buster eyed the message with curiosity, camping equipment? He hadn't been camping since he was a child. He'd gone with his dad and spent a week in the woods. It had been fun for the young koala who had never sat in front of a campfire or eaten a toasted marshmallow before since he lived in the city. It made him surprisingly happy to be out in the open, away from any noise, just him and his dad.

He eventually tore his eyes away from the message and shutting off the phone. He rolled back onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Great. Now he was wide awake again. He forced himself to close his eyes and try to drift off, but, as he did, one thought stuck in his head.

…

"Alright! Now since everyone is here we can get started!" Buster announced, standing on the diving board over the pool, smiling at the animals that were gathered in front of him. It was 8am on a Saturday and by the faces that some of them were pulling (mainly the youngest three members of the group, Johnny, Meena and Ash) it showed. Gunter was jumping up and down, lunging occasionally as if he were warming up for a seven mile jog, Mike was tapping his foot impatiently whilst checking his watch every two minutes, Rosita had her phone to her ear, trying to calmly explain to her husband how to quieten the kids down, Mrs Crawley was watching him intently, Johnny looked half asleep with his back resting against the wall of the pool house, Ash was glaring at the sun as if it had done her a personal injustice, and Meena was yawning and rubbing her eyes every so often. Eddie was still asleep in the pool house but he knew about all of this anyway. All eyes turned to him as he spoke and he gave another big smile before continuing "I bet you're all wandering why I called you all here today?" He clapped, not giving anyone a chance to answer the rhetorical question "Well! I have an announcement! I've decided that we are going on a group camping trip for a week!"

To say that Buster had been expecting a better reaction would be an understatement. Apart from Gunter and Meena the majority of the group looked at him like he had just suggested they all go bungee jumping without the bungee.

"Well? What do you all think?" He asked tentatively, starting to worry about the answer.

"I think it's a great idea Mr Moon…" Meena muttered, but of course she was cut off by the ever-obnoxious Mike.

"Whist that sounds like fun, I have important business to take care of! I can't afford to miss a week!"

"Your business iz just gamblin' money you don't have ja?" (sorry for my pathetic attempt at a German accent) Gunter asked, a smirk on his face as Mike scrunched his face up.

"Keep your snout out of it Pork-Chop!" Mike snapped, turning back to Buster "Point is, I have stuff to do! You can't expect me to drop it with an hours' notice."

"He has a point…" Rosita muttered "I have my kids to think about, I can't leave Norman alone with them that long, he works so late…"

"Which is why," Buster smiles "I am giving you all until tomorrow. We leave then. And if anyone needs any help with sorting out anything like child care, I have managed to convince dear old Nana to provide some financial support."

"How did you manage that?" Johnny asked, pulling away from the wall with genuine curiousness on his face.

"I simply told her this was a group bonding trip to help us become closer. I told her it is essential for us as a theatre group."

"So you lied." Mike stated bluntly.

"No Mike, I did _not_ lie. This trip really is essential if we want to become closer and know more about each other." Buster folded his arms as if to say that it was the last he'd hear of it.

"Well, I don't want to know any more about any of you lot, so." Mike turned on his heels and made his way through the legs of the larger animals.

"It's obligatory Mike." Buster raised his voice a little to make sure he could be heard. When Mike stopped walking he continued "If you opt out without a good enough reason then I will have no choice but to remove you from the group." That got his attention. He spun around to face the koala again.

"Hey, hey, hey. Who said anything about me opting out? I was just heading off to cancel my plans!" Mike put his hands up in surrender. Buster smiled and turned his attention back to the larger animals.

"Anyone else not wanting to come?" he waited for a minute before clapping "Alright then. If anyone needs help cancelling their plans or arranging anything then come speak to me, if not then I will see you all back here at the same time tomorrow!" he dismissed them and slowly the animals trickled away from the pool and around the front of the house as Rosita approached him. He caught a glimpse of the retreating gorilla in the corner of his eye and quickly called "Johnny!" Johnny jumped, looking around to face him quizzically.

"Yeah Mr Moon?"

"You have a truck right?" Buster asked.

"Uhhhh… yeah?"

"GREAT! Bring it along will you, we'll need it to help carry some of the camping equipment and not all of us will fit in Rosita's car!" The pig next to him squealed, turning to face him.

" _My_ car?!"


	2. Chapter 2

It took an awful lot of phone calls and as many bribes from Buster to finally get Rosita a willing sitter. Or, a pair of sitters would be a better choice of words. A pair of Marmosets that were very used to taking care of high-class families with many children. Rosita dreaded to imagine what they would think of her small, middle class house with the mess it was in. She would have to have a proper clean up before they arrived. She climbed into her car and headed home, mind spinning with everything she would have to do before the next day. She would need to convince her husband to let her take his work car so that she could leave the family car at home in case of an emergency. So he would have to take the bus to work for the week, she had made so many sacrifices for him, he could surely make this one small sacrifice for her. It made her feel bad but at the same time it wasn't really like she had a choice.

She headed back into the house, fully prepared for the chaos she was greeted by. She opened the door and ducked instantly to avoid the football that came flying towards her face whilst stepping to the side to let three of her children run after it. She sighed, turning after the children "Stay in front of the house!" she called before stepping fully into the house and closing the door. Her husband trailed out of the living room, a group of five of their children trailing behind him, all talking over each other.

"No, you can't have ice cream until after dinner, no you can't throw darts at your brother, darling I promise I will look at fixing the toy once I have cleaned up the water your sister spilt in the bathroom..." He looked exhausted as he tried to answer each one of them, finally spotting his wife in the corner of his eye he beamed "Hi darling!" He greeted with relief, heading over to kiss her on her cheek.

"Hi Norman." She smiled, giving him a quick hug hello before he pulled away "I have something I nee-"

"That's great darling but one of the kids has…" He went on with a list of things that had happened since she had left the house and it made her stomach knot, if her own husband couldn't handle the children for all of an hour how were two sitters going to handle them for a week?! "If you could just take care of the water then I can take care of the nose bleed." Normal finished. Rosita nodded, heading towards the bathroom.

She hummed to herself as she whipped up the spilt water, though she was starting to suspect it wasn't only water that had been spilt. The song had been stuck in her head all morning, though she wasn't quite sure of the name she did know it had a rather catchy tune that someone could easily dance to. Maybe she could ask Gunter the name when she saw him tomorrow. Oh god, tomorrow. The sitters were coming tomorrow. And this was the state of the house they were going to be practically living in for the week! She let out a squeal, quickly drying up the rest of the water before rushing out of the bathroom and into the kids' room. As expected. It looked like a bomb had flown right through the window and detonated in the middle of the room. She frantically started cleaning up the mess of toys, strewn blankets and bed covers, deciding halfway through that it might be better to completely change the bed covers.

 _Oh god. This is going to take forever._

…

It was 8 o'clock in the evening by the time she finally deemed the house to look presentable. She had put Norman in charge of cooking the dinner whilst she finished cleaning. He had managed to do so however a thin layer of smoke had descended over the house in the process. The smoke alarm kept going off at random intervals whenever some of the smoke managed to drift back into the hallway from the kitchen. Rosita plopped herself down in the seat by the TV. The children were in bed and Norman had said that he would grab her some of the dinner she had missed whilst cleaning.

"Here we go." Norman stated coming into the living room with a tray containing two plates of food and two glasses of wine. Rosita giggle as he almost dropped the tray whilst trying to let go of one of the handles to pass her a tray, reaching out and taking the plate and class of wine herself, nodding at the chair next to her. He smiled, taking the seat and ignoring his food in favour of watching Rosita take a bite of her food "Well?" he asked "How is it?"

"It's lovely, thank you hunny." She smiled. Norman sighed, leaning back in the chair with relief before sitting up again and digging into his food.

"You know, it's funny, I can't remember the last time I cooked a meal." He stated, taking another bite, followed by a small sip of wine.

"It was last year when I had the flu, you cooked the most amazing pie." Rosita recited, without even needing to think about it. Norman blinked at her, slowly reaching up to scratch the back of his head, the way he always did when he was nervous.

"I suppose it has been a while then…" He muttered, looking down at his plate with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Rosita sighed. _Now or never_.

"Norman hunny…" She slowly placed her knife and fork down, turning to look at him.

"What? What is it?" He questioned worriedly "I burnt something, didn't I? Something isn't cooked correctly?"

"No, no, nothing like that!" Rosita smiled reassuringly "Nothing like that at all! I just need to talk to you about why Buster called me down to Eddie's house this morning." She took a deep breath "He asked as all to go on a week-long group camping trip together… well… asked isn't really the right word… more like told us we are going on one." Norman looked at her, clearly confused.

"When?" He asked cautiously "Maybe I can get time off work so you can-"

"Tomorrow." Rosita cut across him "We leave tomorrow." Norman's eyes widened.

"Right. Okay." He looked exactly how Rosita had expected him to look. Total lost. "Well… darling, I don't think it's possible for me to get time off with such late notice…"

"That's taken care of." Rosita stated "Two Marmosets named Milly and Mandy Tadwell are going to be watching the kids. They're fully qualified in childcare and are highly recommended, and Nana Noodleman is covering the expenses."

"Right then… so that's sorted…" Norman muttered.

"Norman… there is one other thing… I need to borrow your car."

"My… my car?" Normal asked, clearly and rightfully confused "Why do you need my car?"

"Well, I can't take the family care in case you need it and Johnny, Eddie and I are the only ones that can drive, excluding Mike of course but his car is for mice so no one else will really fit on the extra high seats, and Johnny's truck is only a two seater so if I don't drive all nine of us won't fit between his truck and Eddie's car." Rosita never really thought of herself as a rambler, but that was the only word she could use to explain what she just did. She may have felt like she was owed a favour but that didn't change the fact that part of her felt awful for asking this of her husband, after all the public busses could be so unreliable. Normal gave a small laugh.

"Show biz is demanding hu?" He gave another laugh and then sighed "No problem darling. I can take the bus for a week."


End file.
